Historical background to the formation of the forensic doctrine on neutralising investigation counteraction

The article substantiates that in the course of historical development of mankind, counteraction to an investigation naturally accompanies such a form of social activity as criminal activity, and therefore, is a substantive component of criminal activity. Scientists began to pay substantial attention to its study in the theory of national forensics in the 60s of the twentieth century. The next stage of its active discussion by the scientific community began in the 90s of the twentieth century, and in the early 2000s it already took the form of systematised comprehensive scientific developments which comprehended theoretical issues and reflected certain practical recommendations for overcoming it. It is determined that the next milestone in scientific research should be associated with 2014, when the aggressor country invaded the territory of Ukraine and occupied part of its territory, which once again provoked an increase in the crime rate. It is established that currently, scientific works reflect the theoretical and pragmatic foundations of overcoming counteraction to pre-trial investigation, as a rule, in relation to certain groups of criminal offences. Given the subject matter of forensics and its paradigm, the author substantiates the possibility of distinguishing the forensic doctrine of countering the investigation and its neutralisation. First of all, this is due to the complexity of this phenomenon – allocation of an independent mechanism of countering the investigation, which is associated with the transformation of certain information about the event of a criminal offence, thereby ensuring the movement of criminally relevant information and acquiring external expression in material and ideal traces-reflections. With this in mind, the author substantiates the possibility of forming a forensic doctrine of countering the investigation and its neutralisation, since its subject matter may be relatively independent signs of criminal activity. It is determined that the prospects for further research are to systematise the already developed scientific provisions and to develop, on this basis and taking into account the needs of law enforcement, the substantive components of this doctrine.